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How Does Being a Child of Alcoholics Affect Your Relationship with Money?
Growing up exposed to anger, fear, abuse, broken promises, and shaming sets you back in life. I am a child of alcoholics, I know.
Children of alcoholics spend their 20s living La Vida Loca while pursuing higher education. They go to college because they don’t want to disappoint anyone, not because they have a clear idea of what they want to do with their lives.
That sounds like most kids at 18.
Once they achieve their educational “goal”, they are no better. They still are making some reckless decisions like making bad choices about who they date, drinking and driving, and not being able to get close to anyone because they have trust issues. It may seem like they have a lot of friends because of their active social life, but they are lonely.
They grew up in a home that was unstable. Even if one parent was not an alcoholic everything revolves around the one that is. You are taught to do things to not get the other person upset. You lie about what you do daily. You jump up and act busy the moment you hear the car pull into the driveway. You want to be a kid and have fun but can’t because the other parent has a short tolerance for a lot of things.
